Massively

NCsoft West confirms layoffs

Elisabeth Cardy — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Real-Life, Aion, MMO Industry, News Items

NCsoft has gone through some "restructuring," leading to the termination of several employee and contract positions.

Aion Community Manager Felicia Johnson stated on Twitter that she no longer works for NCsoft. When asked for comment and confirmation, NCsoft PR responded with the following statement:

"In an effort to put a greater focus on the success of the Western-developed games from NCSOFT, and the long-term services MMOs require, the company announced further restructuring allowing for focused support from the studio's internal publishing services. As a result of the realignment, several employees and contract positions were affected. This was a very tough decision to make and wish the best for all NCSOFT employees in their next ventures."

Our best wishes, as ever, go out to those affected.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in.]

NCsoft West confirms layoffs originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Funcom's Joel Bylos on the centralized TSW, AoC, and AO team

MJ Guthrie — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, Game Mechanics, Interviews, MMO Industry, Previews, News Items, Free-to-Play, The Secret World, Interviews (Massively's), Sandbox

By now, most MMO gamers are pretty familiar with the fact that Funcom underwent restructuring. But what does that mean; what exactly did it entail? The term "restructuring" in itself signifies changes but does nothing to actually enlighten folks on what the changes are. Other than the fact that Joel Bylos was named creative director for all three of Funcom's titles -- Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, and The Secret World -- and that the team will be in one centralized in location, we know little of the details.

How many developers survived the restructuring and relocated to remain on the team? Is this move foreshadowing one or more games slipping into maintenance mode? How will the coveted dev attention be divvied up? What does the future hold? Devoid of facts, players are left left wondering about how these changes will impact their favorite games.

While chatting with Joel Bylos in an exclusive interview, I was able to ask some of these very questions.

Continue reading Funcom's Joel Bylos on the centralized TSW, AoC, and AO team

Funcom's Joel Bylos on the centralized TSW, AoC, and AO team originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chaos Theory: Reacting to TSW's restructuring and relocation

MJ Guthrie — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, Real-Life, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, Opinion, Free-to-Play, The Secret World, Chaos Theory

It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

It has to be; every time The Secret World manages to better secure its footing, the ground starts shaking underneath again. This time, the upheaval comes in the form of the relocation of Funcom's development teams for its three MMOs to Raleigh, North Carolina. Of course, TSW isn't the only game affected by this restructuring, but after the other turbulence buffeting the game in its so-far short life (layoffs, insider trading accusations, changes in key roles), it's hard not to think that the game just can't catch a break. And dangit, it deserves one!

Initially, I had other thoughts to share for for today, but after that announcement last Friday, my mind has mostly been on this topic (along with a slew of related "re-" words). How much will this affect the game I adore? Who all will be lost from the team? And what, if anything, can I do to help support the game during this transition? Join me as I explore these questions and possibly discover a solution or two.

Continue reading Chaos Theory: Reacting to TSW's restructuring and relocation

Chaos Theory: Reacting to TSW's restructuring and relocation originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Funcom restructures Montreal branch, keeps games operational

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, MMO Industry, News Items, The Secret World, Miscellaneous

Funcom is taking hedge trimmers to its Montreal offices today. Senior Game Designer Tanya Short posted the following this afternoon on her Twitter account: "When your branch shuts down, I guess it's less like being fired and more like honorable discharge. Thanks for going down with the ship! Bye!"

Massively contacted Funcom for an official statement. Director of Communications Erling Ellingsen confirmed layoffs but assured us that Funcom's games will continue on: "We are currently in a restructuring process and the Montreal office is part of that process along with our other branches. This process unfortunately involves a reduction in staff, but the studio is not closing down. It will continue on, but in a different form and function than today. Anarchy Online, as well as The Secret World and Age of Conan, will definitely continue to operate and be an important part of the company's focus going forward." He said that the studio would provide more details when it had finished with the process.

Funcom previously stated that it was restructuring the company to make it more profitable. The Montreal office was established in 2009 and employed 110 people.

Funcom restructures Montreal branch, keeps games operational originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ArenaNet's plans for supporting Guild Wars 2

Elisabeth Cardy — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Dev Diaries

Guild Wars 2 has been live for more than a month. Now that ArenaNet has more or less dealt with initial problems like server stability, absurd imbalance, and exploits, the company can start looking forward. ArenaNet devs have long talked about providing new content and huge support for the game, and a blog post this morning details some of their plans for that. ArenaNet has "formed multiple live teams focused on expanding Guild Wars 2 in the long term."

So what are those teams, and what do they do? The Live Security team is all about cracking down on bots, spammers, and scammers. The Live Response team is made up of the fine folks addressing balance issues and bugs. The Living World focuses on adding new content and rewards for PvE and WvW. There's a PvP and Esports team focused on making Guild Wars 2 the best PvP game it can be. Holidays and Events have their own special team, dedicated to keeping up the Guild Wars legacy of amazing holiday content. In addition, the Holidays and Events team will be creating one-off events that occur in the world. The Mac and Performance team is working on getting Guild Wars 2 to run on the widest possible range of hardware. Bonus teams will take care of any projects that don't fall in the direct domain of other teams. Last but not least, the Commerce team will be keeping an eye on the Guild Wars 2 economy and thinking up new goodies for the Black Lion Trading Company.

Hit up the full post for all the gory details.

ArenaNet's plans for supporting Guild Wars 2 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Star Trek: Infinite Space canned

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, Browser

Sorry Trekkies, but if you were hoping for a second Star Trek MMO, you're going to be waiting for some time. Gameforge announced that it is cancelling Star Trek: Infinite Space effective immediately. This doesn't come as a complete surprise, as the publisher put the beta on hold last year in a desperate search for a co-publishing partnership.

Gameforge explained the decision in a statement: "Since autumn 2011 we made many efforts to find a publishing and marketing partner for Star Trek: Infinite Space. Unfortunately, our efforts were not successful. So we have decided with a heavy heart to finally abandon the project Star Trek: Infinite Space."

Infinite Space was to be a browser-based title set in the war-torn Deep Space Nine era of Star Trek. The publisher had obtained the assistance of Trek staples such as Nana Visitor, René Auberjonois, and Denise and Michael Okuda.

Star Trek: Infinite Space canned originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gameforge laying off 100 employees, canceling at least two games

Jef Reahard — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Business Models, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, Browser, Casual, Miscellaneous

Another month, another round of MMORPG-related layoffs. This time the bad news comes courtesy of Gameforge, a German browser MMO maker responsible for Gates of Andaron as well as the upcoming Star Trek: Infinite Space and the European version of Wizard101.

Gamasutra reports that Gameforge is realigning its studio to the tune of 100 layoffs and the cancellation of at least two games, with Hellbreed and Mythos on the chopping block and Star Trek: Infinite Space not far behind "if it cannot find a co-publisher." The company will do away with its web- and client-based games divisions and restructure itself around separate development and publishing arms.

The news comes on the heels of layoff announcements by CCP, NCsoft, and GamersFirst last month.

Gameforge laying off 100 employees, canceling at least two games originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The story of saving APB

Justin Olivetti — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Business Models, MMO Industry, Free-to-Play, All Points Bulletin, Crime, MMOFPS

While many of us are aware of the basics behind the rise, fall, and re-rise of All Points Bulletin, it's only been from a partial, fragmented perspective. GamesIndustry.biz conducted an in-depth investigation into the story of how GamersFirst swooped in to save the drowning APB, which barely had 130,000 registered users at the time of its shutdown last year.

As the game and company went into administration, GamersFirst sent in a team to assess the title and see what could be done. The company decided to purchase it and convert it to a free-to-play model, although Bjorn Book-Larsson said that the price tag for the company was higher than initially anticipated: "It ended up not being a cheap deal for us, but obviously a lot cheaper than the initial development."

In restructuring the development team, GamersFirst reduced the number of developers by 90% to make it more agile, often recruiting former Realtime Worlds employees who showed promise. "Our production designer used to be the lead QA person. He'd spent years taking notes on how things should have been different. Essentially, when I met him the first time he rattled off a huge list of what he thought should have been different. Just an insane amount. We just said, maybe we should just hire you as a designer," Larsson said.

So far, it looks as though the restructuring and new focus is paying off, as APB Reloaded's beta is currently seeing five times as many players as those who registered for the box product last year.

The story of saving APB originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: GamersFirst lays off 32 staffers, CFO [Updated]

Jef Reahard — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:15:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, Fallen Earth, Business Models, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, All Points Bulletin, Crime, Rumors, Post-Apocalyptic, Miscellaneous

If the rumors are true, today has not been the best of days for MMO industry staffers. Hot on the heels of our NCsoft layoff story comes distressing news for fans of GamersFirst, as we've just received an anonymous tip concerning the apparent dismissal of 32 people from the firm's west coast office.

According to our tipster, "Most of the APB team was let go. A lot of the support staff was let go. The development team was not, to my knowledge, so the game is still being developed in Scotland." We've also been told that GamersFirst's CFO was let go.

We've reached out to G1 for clarification on this story, and as of press time there is no official word on the staffing decisions or how the shake-up will affect Fallen Earth and the rest of the company's free-to-play lineup.

[Updated: Reader alacritythief let us know that GamersFirst's Revoemnag and TechMech have responded to the layoffs in regard to APB's future. Their comments are just behind the break.]

Continue reading Rumor: GamersFirst lays off 32 staffers, CFO [Updated]

Rumor: GamersFirst lays off 32 staffers, CFO [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Second Life competitor Blue Mars drops PC development for Apple's iOS

Justin Olivetti — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO Industry, Blue Mars, Virtual Worlds, Miscellaneous

If you were hoping that Blue Mars was going to rise to directly challenge Second Life's virtual world dominance, you may be in for disappointment today. In a letter to Avatar Reality's fans, CEO Jim Sink announced that the company is restructuring and dropping Blue Mars' PC development to focus solely on Apple's iOS. As a result, Blue Mars is now Blue Mars Mobile.

"With over 50 million new tablet devices projected to reach consumers this year along with tens of millions of iPhones and iPod Touch devices, the market for Blue Mars Mobile is a massive opportunity for our company and our customers. We already have a functioning alpha in house and we aim to release the first builds of Blue Mars on iOS next month," Sink said. Sink also announced that a number of Avatar Reality employees, including himself, have been let go from the company.

Unfortunately for PC users, Avatar Reality is limiting development to mere bug fixes for the forseeable future. While the company will not charge users of the PC client, there will also be no technical support for the user client.

Second Life competitor Blue Mars drops PC development for Apple's iOS originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 16 Jan 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Realtime Worlds re-hires 23 MyWorld employees

Jef Reahard — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO Industry, News Items, All Points Bulletin, Crime

The saga of Realtime Worlds continues, this time with a happy ending for 23 employees of the MyWorld project that were laid off earlier this month. In a press release from business restructuring firm Begbies Traynor, administrator Ken Pattullo lays out the details. "As a smaller entity, MyWorld is attracting considerable interest from potential buyers and 23 members of the team who had been working on the project clearly add value to it as a standalone business," Patullo said.

In addition to MyWorld, a platform for creating social games announced earlier this summer, Realtime Worlds will continue to operate All Points Bulletin even as it looks to finish restructuring with an eye towards creating a company that can support the urban crime MMOFPS.

Realtime Worlds re-hires 23 MyWorld employees originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Realtime Worlds lays off staff, puts APB up for sale [Updated]

Justin Olivetti — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO Industry, All Points Bulletin, Rumors

One of the most recent MMOs to hit the market is already in deep trouble, according to multiple reports popping up over the internet. According to unconfirmed rumors, Realtime Worlds has fired the entirety of its MyWorld team, made drastic cuts and layoffs elsewhere, and might be putting APB up for sale. Announced last month, MyWorld was to be a social gaming experience scheduled for a 2011 launch.

If these rumors are true, then Realtime Worlds is mired in financial trouble and is scrambling to keep from going under. A VG247 source reported, "As of 11:30 GMT Realtime Worlds have put a large proportion on their workforce on gardening leave ranging from 4-8 weeks. APB's staff will be reduced to admin and a skeleton staff of devs and artists to keep it running and do general updates, but this looks like the end of RTW."

A developer on the APB European forums briefly addressed the situation by saying, "As we''ve announced we had to restructure the company to make it so that we can focus totally on APB. APB is still going strong and we fully intend to support 100%."

We do know that Realtime Worlds fired several employees last month in an effort to restructure the company. Massively has contacted Realtime Worlds for comment, and we will update you as soon as we hear anything.

[Update: Realtime Worlds has issued a statement confirming that some MyWorld employees, though not all, have been made "redundant," but that APB itself remains intact. "APB continues to be our primary development focus, and we remain fully committed to the game and its players." According to 1UP, Colin Macdonald emphasized that Realtime Worlds has "got the whole team working on making APB as good as it can be. It's a shame things haven't turned out the way we had envisaged them, but then the beauty of online gaming is that we can address problems and keep on improving experiences. We're completely behind APB, it's got huge potential, and we'll continue to make new content for it." Stay tuned for more updates!]

Rumor: Realtime Worlds lays off staff, puts APB up for sale [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acti-Blizz restructuring, assigns new executive to Blizzard

Jef Reahard — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO Industry, News Items

The Los Angeles Times reports that Activision-Blizzard has undergone a significant internal reorganization and elected not to notify investors or the public. The changes were circulated in an inter-company memo obtained by the newspaper and later confirmed by a company spokesperson.

The new company map features one business unit focused squarely on the Call of Duty franchise, another overseeing Activision-owned brands such as Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero, and a third unit to handle licensed properties. Blizzard Entertainment rounds out the fourth unit but interestingly, Blizzard's Mike Morhaime now reports directly to newly appointed chief operating officer Thomas Tippl, who in turn reports to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick.

"This is an important change as it will allow me, with Thomas, to become more deeply involved in areas of the business where I believe we can capture great potential and opportunity," Kotick said in the employee memo.

Check out the original article from the L.A. Times.

[Correction: Activision-Blizzard has two primary divisions, Activision Publishing and Blizzard Entertainment. The Activision Publishing arm has reorganized into three separate business units.]

Acti-Blizz restructuring, assigns new executive to Blizzard originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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John Smedley comments on the SOE/SCEI marriage

Samuel Axon — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO Industry, News Items, Consoles

The other day, Sony Online Entertainment announced that it would begin reporting to Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. to expedite efforts to produce online content and features for the PlayStation 3. WarCry tracked down SOE president John Smedley for comments on the move.

The jist of it is that nothing within SOE will change; the move just makes it easier to coordinate the company's PS3-related projects by allowing Smedley and Kazuo Hirai (who's in charge of everything PlayStation) to work together more closely. "Being part of the PlayStation family is exciting and offers us a lot of great opportunity," Smedley said.

But opportunity for what? Are announcements of new PS3 titles forthcoming from SOE? Obviously this move is the start of a longterm investment of SOE's time in the PS3 (and maybe even the PS4), but what specifically will come of it? We're anxious to find out.

John Smedley comments on the SOE/SCEI marriage originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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